Going into the cellar
There were certain chores that I had as a boy that left lasting scars on my memory. They really were not that bad as I look back on them now but I have had to spend years of effort trying to overcome some of those deep impressions that were made doing those chores. They usually seemed to involve Black Widow spiders as well and I to this day am very respectful and scared of that particular spider. The chore here that I am referring to however is the ones when I was told to go into the cellar and either get potatoes or fruit or other times when I went into it to clean it out for the following winters storage. It was built such that you had to pull open a large door that led to the stairs. It was usually attached to a lot of spider webs since it was dark and dry and a great place for spiders. Then you went down four or five stairs that were not really very sturdy to another door. It was also covered with webs and as you would push it open it led into the darken interior where you had to feel through more webs for the string that you would pull to turn on the light. Well you would think that at this point fears could be rested of having a large spider climb down onto your back but the light would only illuminate the rest of the webs that would have been spun from shelf to shelf. I would have to then tear them down to reach in for apples on the shelf or into the bin for the potatoes. Well I probably only found a few widowed (by choice) spiders in the many years of going into the cellar where the floor were dirt and the side walls lined with cedar slabs to keep the dirt from caving into the interior. But those few spiders were enough to instill a lasting dislike for them. OK it probably wasn’t all that bad of an experience and I probably had more death defying experiences with skunks but I will always remember that old dirt cellar and the smell of fresh fruit and vegetables in the fall and the rotten unused apples and vegetables in the spring. (Yes I had to clean them out each year.)
Another version:
Going into the cellar
I seem to be on a subject while writing today’s stories. I have written about cleaning the fruit room and preparing bottles for canning. I have mentioned my dislike for Black Widow spiders as well and this story is not much different. Dark places like the well, bottles in the grainery and the cellar just seem to attract those darn spiders. So without any further mention of them I will just say they were in the cellar as well. I also had yearly duties of cleaning the going to the cellar for potatoes and fruit during the winter to get them for mom to cook with at supper time. I also got to clean out the rotten potatoes and carrots and fruit the next spring or fall before storing more fruit in there the next season. I learned to despise the smell of rotten potatoes and learned it was a had a very distinct smell. The apples were not bed since they seemed to just dry into tiny little balls of no significant mess except the few that were still only half dried when I was removing the rest. The floor of the cellar was just dirt and the walls were made of cedar planks and of course spider webs. It was always a fun experience to open the top door and go down the steps to open the second door where I would then have to clear all of the webs out of the road so I could find the pull string to turn on the light. Other than that fun part it was always the right temperature in there regardless of the season outside. I did like that part.
